The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England

What was it actually like to live in Elizabethan England? If you could travel to the past and walk the streets of London in the 1590s, where would you stay? What would you eat? What would you wear? Would you really have a sense of it being a glorious age? And if so, how would that glory sit alongside the vagrants, diseases, violence, sexism and famine of the time? In this book Ian Mortimer answers the key questions that a visitor to late 16th-century England would ask.

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Publisher's Summary

What was it actually like to live in Elizabethan England? If you could travel to the past and walk the streets of London in the 1590s, where would you stay? What would you eat? What would you wear? Would you really have a sense of it being a glorious age? And if so, how would that glory sit alongside the vagrants, diseases, violence, sexism and famine of the time? In this book Ian Mortimer answers the key questions that a visitor to late 16th-century England would ask.

I read the earlier Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England in good old fashioned paperback and enjoyed it . So it was an easy choice to pick this on the track record of the earlier book. I wish I'd stuck to paperback again.TTG to Elizabethan England is not a bad book, however it doesn't work as an audiobook as well as many other books. The narration is fine and clear but the book suffers from too many facts and figures, lists and statistics. In print these work, but as the spoken word they serve to bog down the book and break up flow and imagination. A pity . Perhaps this is a (to my preference) rare example of a book that would honestly be improved for audio by being abridged.

20 of 20 people found this review helpful

Jim

London

4/22/12

Overall

"If you liked the medieval guide, you'll love this"

It's a great idea; immersive history delivered through a view of how life really was in a particular period of history. He did it incredibly well in the medieval time travellers guide. This holds up just as well.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

chris

Barnstaple, United Kingdom

6/16/12

Overall

"brilliant - Just close your eyes and you are there"

I dont' know how you start to write a book like this, I guess you have to have an excellent knowlage of the period, and a gift that allows you to put the reader there, as if you had traveled back as a time travel tourist and had to get a grip on the siutuation you find youslef in. I particually love the way Ian Mortimer somtimes comes at a particular point from an odd angle that makes you wonder where he is going. There is just enough detail to satisfy the novice, not too much that any particular subject can become boring. This is very well read, easy to take in, sometimes a bit upseting, sometimes supprising. I also like the interview with the author at the end. If you like history in an easy to take in format, that makes it relevent, then you will enjoy this. Probaly should be 5 stars, but ill leave that for your next one Ian.....please...

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Christian

thisted, Denmark

4/13/13

Overall

"Time travelling to Elizabethan England"

I enjoyed very much listening to the descriptions of England in the 16th. century and I will highly recommend this book to people who like history and furthermore have the imagination to "see" landscapes, towns, people and much more so extremely well described by Ian Mortimer and so excellently narrated by Mike Grady.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Ian

Launceston, United Kingdom

4/7/13

Overall

"Informative and enlightening"

I enjoyed this volume, but not quite as much as I did the "Time Traveller's Guide To Medieval England". There is plenty of illustrative detail about how our ancestors went about their lives, and the facts are delivered in a pleasantly chatty style, but the emphasis towards the end of the book on literary developments felt rather like it came from a different book. But I much preferred the narrator who recorded this book to that for the Medieval England. Well-worth downloading and listening to, I'm sure there's something interesting in here for everyone.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Amazon Customer

Dorchester, United Kingdom

12/23/12

Overall

"The past comes to life."

This is a great book for people who have an interest in history - particularly of our great nation. Mike Grady has just the right voice for it - not to clipped or overly 'posh'. He brings the lines on the dusty pages to life in a vibrant manner. The intermingling of words written by those who were there at the time with the modern lines of Ian Mortimer create a whole new world for us - from the distant past!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

mr j

11/22/12

Overall

"Long...but illuminating"

Lacking the relative brevity of the original title by Ian Mortimer tackling the fourteenth century, but still a refreshing approach to history.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Barbara

HOGNASTON, United Kingdom

10/23/12

Overall

"Incredible"

I down loaded this copy some months ago and listen to it as I trundled back and forth through the next few weeks. It really was very good.

I then recently began to listen to it once more. I found so much more this time round. I rarely like revisiting books but this is wonderful.

I recommend this book to everyone.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Joe

melbourne, Australia

5/19/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"Informative"

Would you listen to The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England again? Why?

Yes. This brought the history of the period to life making me want to listen more closely the next time.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No multiple sittings are better for this title as there is so much to grasp.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Lesleyboyd

scarborough, United Kingdom

3/28/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"elizabethan wonderland"

I loved this book. Although factual and historical it is thoroughly intriguing and I felt as if I knew some of the 'characters'. Superby written and narrated. Was ideal for listening to in stages as its well defined into specific areas such as food or politics or living conditions. These areas were also seemlessly interlinked. For me, perfection.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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